Tenn. High Court says anonymous tips enough to stop drivers

The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that anonymous tips that alert authorities to reckless driving are sufficient to warrant detention and questioning of drivers.

â€œThe anonymous tip reporting reckless driving indicated a sufficiently high risk of imminent injury or death to members of the public to warrant immediate intervention by law enforcement officials,â€ wrote state Supreme Court Justice Sharon G. Lee in the courtâ€™s opinion, released today.

The ruling arose out of the 2003 arrest of Jerry Lee Hanning, who was driving an 18-wheeler northbound on Interstate 75 in Louden County and later was found to be intoxicated when approached by police in a McDonaldâ€™s parking lot.